Alumni & Campus Stories

Beyond the main doors of Bevier Hall, the stairs rise to a landing adorned with a large painting of a larger-than-life woman—Isabel Bevier, for whom the building is named. In 1900, Bevier arrived at...

When Nathan Ricker graduated from the University of Illinois in 1873, he became the first person in the nation to receive a degree in architecture. He might have achieved that distinction even sooner but...

Success came early for sports journalist Taylor Rooks, ’14 MEDIA. While still an undergraduate, she broke athletic recruiting stories for scout.com and appeared on the Big Ten Network and CBS Sports Network. Months after...

Thomas Cureton generated plenty of headlines in the 1950s when he boldly declared that, for many people, middle age begins prematurely at age 26. Without regular exercise, he argued, the body begins to deteriorate...

There are many stories about how the fabled chemistry professor got his nickname. According to one, which traces back to 1938, he lectured so rapidly—scribbling equations on the blackboard as he went—that students couldn’t...